Source: Jerseynut
This description of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made its rounds across the Internet today after the publication of Jeffery Goldberg’s latest article in The Atlantic, The Crisis in U.S.-Israel Relations is Officially Here.
Here’s the excerpt:
The other day I was talking to a senior Obama administration official about the foreign leader who seems to frustrate the White House and the State Department the most. “The thing about Bibi is, he’s a chickenshit,” this official said, referring to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, by his nickname.
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Over the years, Obama administration officials have described Netanyahu to me as recalcitrant, myopic, reactionary, obtuse, blustering, pompous, and “Aspergery.” (These are verbatim descriptions; I keep a running list.)
Goldberg assigns most of the blame for the breakdown in U.S.-Israel relations over the past few years unto Netanyahu. The bigger take-away from his article is this stunning, albeit unsurprising, revelation about the general attitude in the White House towards Israel and Netanyahu. The Obama administration has done little to aid our Middle Eastern ally, but has done a whole lot to hurt it. Recall, for example, a few years back when Obama said he wanted Israel to relinquish its land and coop up back in its 1967 borders, or, more recently during this summer, how the defense department temporarily banned commercial flights into Israel, a move that galvanized Hamas terrorists.
Netanyahu is by no means a chickens***. After graduating high school in the U.S., he returned to Israel to serve in the Israeli Defense Force and became a leader in the elite special forces unit, Sayeret Matkal. During his six years of service, he participated in numerous raids and missions under war-time and special combat conditions, including the rescue of a hijacked plane in 1972 during which Netanyahu was shot in the shoulder. After exiting the military briefly in 1972 to study at MIT, he returned to Israel to participate in the Yom Kippur War for forty days.
At the same age, Obama was attending college first at Occidental College and then at Columbia University. After graduating from Columbia, he spent two years working in New York City before returning to become a community organizer in Chicago.
“The Obama Administration has done little to aid our ally, but has done a whole lot to hurt it.” Really ? A rather creative use of facts, I would say. Since the Obama Administration took power in 2009 aid to Israel has INCREASED from 2.4 BILLION in Bush’s last year. In FACT, aid to Israel has increased EVERY year of the Obama administration so that in 2014 the aid package was 3.1 BILLION US dollars. Sorry. This looks like more support for Israel than ever before. I don’t hear Bibi complaining about the US taxpayer dollars flowing his way. Nice try, though.
This is true. Beginning in 2011, the levels of aid to Israel began to surpass peak Bush year levels.
However, by far, the disrespectful, acrimonious, and foolish ways the Obama administration has publicly dealt with Israel and Netanyahu outweigh the increases in foreign aid to the country. Cash in one thing, but destroying a strategic alliance is a whole separate beast.
Can you link us to some speeches by Obama that have been disrespectful or acrimonious toward Israel ? I have searched for speeches on the topic and Mr. Obama has made it clear that Israel is our ” ally ” and that” the bond between the two countries is unbreakable”. He has said that the “US will always have Israel’s back when it comes to Israel’s security”. March 5, 2012.
It is true that the Obama administration, in private and later through a spokesperson, did fault the Jerusalem authorities for allowing the expansion of illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank, thereby trying to undermine the negotiations which are part of the peace process.
It could not be clearer. US aid to Israel is increasing. The Obama Administration has regularly and publicly made it clear that we will support Israel even to the point of war. At the same time providing legitimate criticism when the actions of some Israeli officials threaten the peace process. Where are you getting the idea that this is somehow “destroying a strategic alliance” ?